If you go
Always Be Creating at 3307 S. College Ave. UNIT 115 is open noon-6 p.m. Wednesday-Friday and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. on Saturdays. “Crafternoons” take place from 1-3 p.m. every second Sunday of the Month. Renee Walkup’s Mosaic class is 1-3:30 p.m. Oct. 16 for $40.
By Maximus Vogt
The Ramspondents
On a fall morning with orange leaves as her backdrop, Tracey Kazimir-Cree, owner of the new craft supply store Always Be Creating, fluttered around her cozy shop. She carefully organized cluttered crafting spaces gleaming with technicolored beads and cooed at yesterday's craft: Halloween monsters that were made out of old toilet paper rolls.
On Oct. 4, Kazimir-Cree celebrated the grand opening of her store, which takes donations of used art and craft supplies and re-sells them at discounted prices. She also dedicated much of the store to act as a community space for makers; offering classes, workshops and Sunday “crafternoons” where anyone can get together and work on their art/craft project.
Kazimir-Cree used to own a similar store called Who Gives a Scrap on North College Avenue, but it closed following COVID lockdowns in 2020.
Years earlier, while working at the now-closed Poudre River Arts Center with her friend Kat Peters-Midland, Kazimir-Cree envisioned a space that combined workshops, gallery space, and affordable supplies. Despite her long career in marketing, she decided to take on the challenge herself, with Peters-Midland as her store manager.
“I'm in marketing and I've been doing that for over 30 years, and I'm tired of it.” Kazimir-Cree said. “I thought, this would be a good side hustle, which is actually another full-time job, of course. But eventually, I hope to quit the other stuff and just do this.”
Kazimir-Cree first started getting her grand ideas off the ground a year ago. She rented a storage unit, spread the word and quickly, people donated over 1,000 pounds of re-used art and craft supplies in the first day alone.
“That's when I knew, this is going to work,” Kazimir-Cree said.
Kazimir-Cree is a mixed-media artist herself, finding that reusing materials gives her new inspiration. She hopes her store will spark the same creativity for others.
“I'll use the bottom of a shoe to make a print on a piece of paper, you know, like, I'lI use a lot of scrap paper, a lot of leftovers,” Kazimir-Cree said. “I’m always looking through my junk mail and seeing what I can use or if I see a cool rock or a bottle cap on the ground, I'll pick that up.”
"Someone might have tried knitting and decided, ‘I don't like this,’ and they'll donate their yarn, but someone else will come in and says, ‘I think I want to try knitting,’ and they can buy yarn for a fraction of what they could get it for."
When walking around the store, there is a sense of great possibility, Kazimir-Cree picks up a small ceramic cherub and comes up with a new sculpture, then turns around and a half-finished craft for sale and muses on its new possibilities.
That creative improvisations extend toward class offerings. Looking down at a storage bin full of mannequin torsos, Kazimir-Cree had a spark.
“I started one of those up and it was totally cool,” Kazimir-Cree said. “So we might do something with these. Sometimes a class idea might come from what we have a lot of in the store.”
Always Be Creating’s first class will be an intro to Mosaics with artist Renee Walkup. In the future Kazimir-Cree hopes to host artists from out of state and offer a myriad of classes.
The store also offers an accessibility for those that are just getting started, offering affordability that lowers the stakes of trying something new.
"Someone might have tried knitting and decided, ‘I don't like this,’ and they'll donate their yarn, but someone else will come in and says, ‘I think I want to try knitting,’ and they can buy yarn for a fraction of what they could get it for."
Acceptable donations include art supplies and crafting materials of all kinds, weird and unusual items and unfinished projects. The store does not accept old electronics, clothing or many household goods.
In the future, Kazimir-Cree hopes to source materials from local businesses or manufacturers. As she took over the space from a former scrapbooking store, she continues to foster the community that loved that store and add to it.
As time goes on, Kazimir-Cree plans to add to a gallery wall in her store, showing the creations made possible by her pursuit to bring art making to all.
Maximus Vogt is an art history major and journalism minor at CSU, active in fine art happenings on campus. He is interested in the intersection of art, community and news.